Gonna make the leap

[lawnproslawncare]

Hey Everyone,
Winter is here in WI! Just no snow as usual.

Talked to the Walker Mower dealer tonight, they have financing till end of Dec. for purchasing new mowers with no payments till July!???

I think I'm Going with a new model mt31, 31 hp
48" rear discharge deck
56" side discharge deck
Implement hitch
42" two stage snow blower

Any one have experience with the mower and snowblower combo? Any downsides to this package versus a walk behind blower?

How about the decks? any items i should order right off the bat?

I could really use your feed back on this one. Its a $21,000.00 buy.

[buster57]

Let us know what you think of your new unit. Walker has a really good name out here. Not much on snow blower probably because it does not snow in portland but as a mower the Walkers are tops.

[Hutch Lawns]

Wow, that's a chunk of change! I have 2 walkers currently, but both are older. No experience with the snow blower though. My only fear with the blower would be transporting the machine on a trailer and then getting it off the trailer and to where you need to blow (ie. from the road to the driveway) they are really low slung, seems like they may high center on hard snow/ice.

For the $$$ you are investing, any reason to not go with the Diesel? I keep hearing praises from the guys here locally that have them.

[spotremix]

the only advice i can give is to pass the deal up completely. i think anyone who buys those machines are crazy. there are plenty of other brands of mowers around with out such heafty prices. i don't think there cut is so great to make me spend that much money on something like that when i can get something much much cheaper and does the job.

[Hutch Lawns]

the only advice i can give is to pass the deal up completely. i think anyone who buys those machines are crazy. there are plenty of other brands of mowers around with out such heafty prices. i don't think there cut is so great to make me spend that much money on something like that when i can get something much much cheaper and does the job.

Ummmm, ok... A Walker is a Walker, no other mower compares. If you need a machine for wide open areas then don't buy one, but if you need a dedicated bagging unit to use in smaller lawns there's no equal. Oh, yeah, I guess about 50% of the guys in my town are "crazy" then...

[Stephen M.]

the only advice i can give is to pass the deal up completely. i think anyone who buys those machines are crazy. there are plenty of other brands of mowers around with out such heafty prices. i don't think there cut is so great to make me spend that much money on something like that when i can get something much much cheaper and does the job.

I bought one years ago when I was a scrub It was a love/hate relationship. I loved it because of the cut; I hated it because we spent half the time under the deck cleaning out the chute from wet grass. It was in the days of the 8" chute and later it came with a 10" chute upgrade.

When I got rid of it in trade for a Ryan power rake, the dealer thought I was nuts to get rid of it. I decided that there were better mowers out there. Yes and No.

I need to replace my 26" Turfco aerator, not because its no longer operable, but because my 51 year old body really gets beat up running it; I need a thatching rake on wheels for large areas bigger than 1/2 acre; I need a bed edger that is better than my Turfco power edger that has 5 different edging knives; and I need a powerful vacumn to suck up thatched material/debris.

That's where a new Walker comes in. Its been 10 years since I owned one and it has become a multi use machine. Since it would cost me over $4000 to get a ztr aerator from Turfco; $1000 for a Little Wonder bed edger; $1300+ for another thatcher, another $1000+ or - for a vacumn; and $10,000+ for another ztr rider with bagging capacity (we mulch on all mowers), I can purchase a Walker that has all of this capacity with its assessories.

Why walk when you can ride? The only other rider that has this multi functional would be a Grasshopper. However, the Grasshopper doesn't have as many assessories.

That's a pretty good reason to me to pay the money for a Walker. Its on my upgrade list for purchase in the next 24 month time frame.

[lawrence stone]

How does a $21k mower effect your net profit per hour?

For instance what will this machine cost per hour vs. gross revenue per hour?

Now factor in your fixed overhead costs and what will be your net profit per hour?

If you can't answer these questions I suggest you find someone that can.

http://www.score.org/index.html

Frankly any machine can give a good cut at 4.5 mph but who wants to be left in the dust by a 20 year old belt drive walkbehind.